A Not So Distant Past
by XanAxe14
Summary: Cait O'Connor takes two of her friends on a field trip to show them what hers and her sister Dottie's lives were like before the WWE became a part of their lives. It's not a smooth day for Dottie, but Cait knows that the two men she's brought a long will be there for them no matter what happens. At least she hopes. Part 4 of my Dottie Series. Read Money Lost, the 1st in the series.
1. Chapter 1

**1**

Cait O'Connor was livid. Not one WWE Raw show went by and something never happened. There was her sister who had her own issues but because she couldn't deal with them the normal way Cait had to be there to step in for her.

And Cait wasn't the older sister. Dottie was older by a few years, but Cait had to be her sister's caregiver because the last thing she wanted was to send Dottie back to a facility like the one their mommy dearest had sent her to.

"Cait, are you okay?" Colby Lopez, one hot steaming walking man in flesh and muscle, asked as he approached where she was standing.

He was one of the few that didn't scare Dottie, so Cait let him around her. Nick was the one that had been doing some strange shit lately and it was mind altering confusing.

She sighed. "I'm doing as good as I can. Dottie's still mute."

He looked in the room. Fergal was sitting with Dottie, though her sister still absolutely refused to acknowledge his presence. Regardless, she was fixing his jacket for him and he was sticking around until she could talk again.

"Docking pay isn't all that big deal. This job means a lot to Dottie, I'm just glad neither of us got the boot." Cait rubbed her arms. It had gotten a little bit chillier. "We didn't get to see your match. You lost again, didn't you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but that's business. I came by to check up on you and Dottie before I got ready to head to the house shows."

"Do you need to head out straight away?" She asked.

"No, I don't have to. I'm not even scheduled until Thursday and Friday's shows. Why, what's on your mind?"

"We're from New York, and I think it's about time that Fergal knows about our past. Do you think you could be her rock tomorrow? I mean, you don't have to…"

"Anything to help you and your sister." He said, a smile pulling at his mouth.

He was too damn sexy for his own good. No one was perfect, she knew about his past relationships and something that became public knowledge. But sometimes the past didn't dictate how they lived in the present, taking in her own history with her sister.

"You have my number, meet up at the Motel 6 where the staff is staying."

"Sure." He smiled. "Can I give Dottie a hug before I get ready to go?"

"I'm sure she would like that, after what you did for her."

Drew McIntyre, Galloway in real life, walked up dressed in jeans and a button up shirt that fit his larger frame. He easily dwarfed both Cait and Dottie but he was the friend that they needed. He was someone that they could trust. He'd been around to help when the shit hit the fan between Dottie and Fergal. Also, the accent was great to listen to.

"Nick been by yet? He said he would." Drew said.

"No, he hasn't. I figured he would be gone by now since his spot is over and he doesn't have to hang around like the rest of us." She crossed her arms.

Drew glanced in the room. "Dot still quiet?"

"Unfortunately, but Fergal and Colby are in there with her now. Fergal's decided to wait around until she starts talking again."

Colby said something to Dottie, leaning in low to her head. Dottie nodded, her eyes down on his shoes because Fergal was standing close to her.

"Can you believe that he wanted to ask her out?" Cait asked.

"Who? Colby?"

"When she first started here, back before you moved up, she was quiet, stayed to herself and didn't socialize. It was shortly after what happened at the Facility. Anyway, he asked me about her and wanted to know if she was dating anyone. I told him exactly what I told you, she's autistic and didn't trust people."

"I think you're the one with the trust issues." Drew said. "But still, does he feel the same now?"

"I don't know. Maybe." She sighed. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened in her life.

"He's made it clear that he's just a friend. I don't think you have anything to worry about." Drew smiled that cocky grin the Scotsman could only muster.

So he knew about her own romantic issues. What else was new?

Cathy Kelley walked up. Fergal had told Cait what happened, what his girlfriend did. Who could blame her?

"Um, hi." The dark haired woman said as she rubbed the back of one hand. "I came to apologize, you know, for being a fucking bitch."

"Yeah?" Cait tilted her head to the side. "It shouldn't be me you should apologize to."

"Would she understand? I know people like her…."

"People like Dottie with autism come in various forms from severe to high functioning. Dottie may seem to be emotionally immature but she knows pain like the rest of us. It's just that she's been taken advantage of for far too long and I am very protective of her."

"Yes, I see that. I see why Fergal likes her. I just got jealous. He's been worried…" She shook her head. 'So I wanted to see if she really did have a thing for my boyfriend."

Drew moved away, leaving the two women to talk it out. Only Cait had her hand clasped so hard in a fist she felt her knuckles straining.

"I know, it was a bitchy move of mine going to Vince like that. And I am sorry I tried to have you fired. I really am. I didn't know any of that about you or your sister."

"Apologize to my sister first. Then maybe I'll be civil enough to accept your apology."

Cathey sighed and then walked into the room. Cait stood at the door, arms crossed and watching everything that happened. Fergal didn't smile when he saw Cathey walk in, he put his hand on Dottie's back as Colby stood a safe distance back.

"Hi, Dottie. It's Cathy, the woman you met earlier. I wanted to apologize for what I did." Cathy said. "I just...I just didn't know it would affect you like that. Maybe if I had taken time to get to know you then I wouldn't have done that stupid thing I did."

Dottie looked up at her. Dottie's face was screwed up, mouth turned down and Cait could see that she was breathing hard.

"You're angry, I get that. I really am sorry. I am, Fergal. Please know that I didn't mean...well I did at the time and I got angry because of how much you care for her. I just...I wanted to see if she really did have a thing for you. And I am sorry, Ms. O'Connor. I am."

Her sister shrugged. Because she had gone mute Dottie really didn't know how to communicate. It would take a few hours until the words got out, and the last time this happened, she'd only gone one night without really saying anything. Of course she said a word or two to Fergal when he had taken her out to dinner but that was before the big blow up she had with him.

"We'll talk later, Cathy. Not right now. I'm making sure Dottie is safe." Fergal said.

"Sure, yeah." The brunette rubbed the back of her hand again before she looked at Cait.

"For now, I think you should just leave." Cait said, trying to keep her tone civil enough since she knew Dottie was watching. "Give us some time to cool off."

"Yeah, sure. Yeah." She then walked away.

Fergal stood up when Dottie did. She shoved his finished jacket in his arms and turned away from him to begin clearing out her station. Colby knew the process by then, picking up her sewing machine case and opening it for her as she unplugged the machine from the nearby outlet.

"Fergal, come here for a second. I need to talk to you." Cait said.

When he did she did the same thing she did with Colby. She wanted to know if he was busy the next day, which he wasn't thank goodness.

"We're from here, and I wanted to show you our lives before we got our jobs. Colby is coming and I would like you to come as well." She saw Fergal glance at Drew who had returned after Cathy left. "He already knows pretty much everything, Dottie told him during one of her darker nights. So I want you to come out with us."

"Sure, when and where?" The Irishman asked.

She told him everything she told Colby, even down to knowing his phone number and to call if he was having problems getting to the hotel. After that, Fergal stayed around and watched Dottie clear out her stuff.

Some of the haulers, the staff members that carried stuff to and from trucks and the like, started taking most of their things out, Cait had to oversee that nothing was misplaced so she had to head out and come back in to make sure everything that was being hauled out to the house shows were on the right trucks.

As she came back from one run and Cait found Nick, Drew and Fergal with Dottie. Dottie had her attention on Nick who was standing with his arm around her shoulders.

He was touching her sister.

"Hey there, Cait. Just keeping Little Red here company." Nick said when she walked up.

Cait looked at Drew. He'd been hanging around a lot more because of Nick but there seemed to be an unspoken truce between Fergal and Drew, something that concerned Dottie. It had to be the way Nick was constantly around her as of late.

"Well we have a big day planned for tomorrow." Cait said.

Dottie looked at Nick and smiled, but it wasn't the one that Cait was used to. It was the kind of smile she often used when she wasn't sure about something, or someone in this case.

"We should go out and have a lunch date some time. You're going to the house shows, so am I. I'll take you out then." Nick said, but he was talking to Dottie.

She nodded, pushing some loose red hair behind her ear. She was a little red in the face.

"I'll walk Dottie out to your car." Drew said. "Come on, Dot."

She followed the Scotsman, looking down at the floor as she walked but Drew kept a hand on her shoulder to steer her.

"What's your deal?" Cait looked at the man known as Dolph Ziggler.

"My deal? What about him?"

"At least I know his intentions are sincere. You, not after you called my sister retard will I ever trust you."

Nick put a hand over his chest. "I'm shocked you would think that I'm some heartless S O B. I explained to Dottie that I was pissed off at you because you never gave me a chance. And really, the only way to get to you is through your sister."

"So you're going to do what, sleep with her or something?" She stood with her arms crossed.

He groaned. "No, nothing like that. I had to get to know her. Talk to Drew. He'll vouch for me."

"If you hurt my sister, I will hurt you." Cait said.

"I won't stop her." Fergal added. "I'll see you tomorrow, Cait."

"Yeah, see you."

"Why can't I come?" Nick asked.

"The last place I would like you to be is sitting with my sister in a car. We're taking a field trip tomorrow, and you're not invited."

Fergal walked with her out to the parking lot. Drew gave Dottie a one armed hug before he went back inside. Fergal was joined by Colby as Cait began to drive Dottie out of the venue.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

Cait stayed awake longer than she wanted because she was watching her sister lay on her back as she slept. Was this how a mother felt? Hell, hers wasn't all that right in the head, so she didn't have a reference point for worry like that.

Watching her sister go through late stage crushes on a man that was considerably out of her league was a little scary at first. At first it was cute, seeing her sister watch Fergal like a hawk. As she laid in bed watching her sister sleep, she thought back to the time they first met Fergal, well, when Dottie first met him.

He'd stopped by to ask about a shirt design and Dottie was sewing something on someone's ring attire. Cait hadn't been there but Dottie was there by herself. Pretty much from the moment Dottie saw Fergal she had been smitten, hell he was the first one she talked to.

Fergal got her to speak when Cait couldn't at the time. He talked to her like a real person, not some mentally retarded woman that a lot of the other people did when first realizing Dottie wasn't normal. Fergal was the first to touch her without her jerking away. Now she accepted hugs from Colby, even letting the weasely Ziggler touch her. But it was Fergal who had been just about her first everything when it came to Dottie.

Cait felt a hand on her arm. "Cait, Cait, shut your phone off." Dottie said from next to her bed. "It's too loud. I can't hear my show."

Reaching over, Cait slapped a hand on her phone. "Sorry."

Dottie walked back to her bed and sat down, crossing her legs and leaning on her knees to continue watching something on the television. Animals, it had to be animals. Shark Week from the looks of what was being shown.

Cait got up and used the nearby bathroom to get ready. There was about an hour before she and the guys would meet up. Knowing Fergal, he would be there ahead of time.

"We're going to be hanging out with Colby today." Cait said. "So we need to start getting ready to go. He'll be coming with us to the house shows."

"Okay." Dottie reached over, grabbed the remote and turned off the television.

She got ready. Much like a lot of others who were autistic, fashion didn't make sense to them. Dottie dressed casually, almost androgynous, jeans and a tee shirt. She brushed her red hair into a ponytail and that was it. Cait decided to take some extra time to apply some eyeshadow and lip gloss while putting on a nicer blouse with some slacks.

"Why are you dressing up?" Dottie asked as she looked at her.

Cait shrugged. "I don't know. I feel like it. Sometimes people just do things off the cuff and I wanted to wear some makeup."

She put her stuff away and knew they would be back so packing up their traveling suitcases wasn't going to happen. Dottie had already packed her over night bag, the bag that had all her sleepwear and toiletries. Dottie just sat on the bed waiting to go, like she would usually do. She hadn't really found something to focus on, to have on the road besides work so she just waited for what was to come.

A knock on the door brought the sisters out of their quiet.

"Can you get it, Dottie?" Cait asked as she rummaged through her purse.

She did. Cait heard, "Good morning, Dottie," from Fergal and then a grunt from Dottie. "Don't be like that, Lovely." Fergal added.

"Lovely?" Cait looked at him.

He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, something I just started. Me Granny called all of us kids that. Sort of stuck."

"Cute." Cait mumbled as she went back to looking for her wallet.

Dottie moved away from him, arms crossed and refusing to look at Fergal. She went to the window and looked out. Her arms were crossed and her fingers dug into her flesh, but it wasn't as hard the day she freaked out on Fergal.

"Dottie, I wish you would stop that." Cait sighed. "She may still be scared."

"I just wish it wasn't of me."

"Are we having a convention?" Colby asked from the open door. "Hey, Man."

"Hey. How's it going?"

"Good." Colby smiled at her. "Heya, Cait. You look really good."

She ran her hand through her hair. "Thanks. We're almost ready. Dot, Colby is here."

"Hi." She said, her back still to them.

"Can I get a good morning hug?" Colby asked.

"I don't feel like it."

"It's good to hear your voice again, Dottie." Fergal said.

She didn't respond to him.

"Dottie, you're going to have to deal with Fergal being here. I asked him because I want him to know our lives. We're going to see Mom today."

Dottie spun around. "No. Not Mom."

"I know, I know." Cait walked up to her sister and put her hands up. "Listen, if they just understand where we came from things will be easier for them to deal with. Okay? You don't have to talk to her, we won't be there for long, okay?"

"It's going to be okay, Dottie." Colby said. "I promise, I won't make fun of you. And when we head through Iowa, I'll introduce you to my own screwed up family."

She wiped at her eye. "Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

Fergal, who hadn't touched Dottie since her freak out a few weeks prior when finding out that he had a girlfriend, walked up. She made brief eye contact, her lower lip being bitten between her teeth.

"I'm sorry you got hurt." She said, looking down.

He smiled. "Thank you, Dottie. That means a lot coming from you."

"Come on, guys, let's get out of here. Today is going to be stressful." Cait told them as she pulled at her hair before grabbing her purse.

Fergal and Dottie sat in the backseat of Colby's rental on opposite sides of each other. Cait was riding shotgun and Colby was driving. They were going to a place before their mother's place. It was outside of the city limits, in the countryside. It was summer, it was sunny and it was a nice day but the closer they got to the tree lined property, the worst Dottie rocked in her seat.

"Can I hold your hand, Dottie? Will that be better?" Fergal asked.

Cait turned around in time to see Dottie reach across the seat and take Fergal's hand in hers. Colby's did the same exact thing with Cait's, drawing her attention to him. From the side, Cait saw Colby smiling as he drove with basically his thumb.

"Turn here, in this drive." She pointed.

The big sign was New York State Asylum, or just The Facility to her and Dottie. It was a place for people with mental problems went when they had nowhere else or anyone else to take care of them.

Dottie stayed rooted in her seat until Colby rolled down the window at Cait's suggestion. The familiar sounds of quiet outside the place was everything that Cait remembered any time she went to visit Dottie, when their mother thought that she was a lost cause.

A figure approached. "Well Ms. O'Connor, so glad to see you again." Tabitha Perkins, a rotund black woman wearing a white and blue uniform indicating her employment with the facility, said with a thick southern accent.

"Hi, Ms. Perkins." Cait greeted as she started to get out.

When Colby got out as did Fergal, but not Dottie, the woman smiled. "Making friends already?"

"It was a rough start, but yeah. I figured it was best for them to know a little about our lives here before going to see our mother."

Ms. Perkins leaned over to look in the backseat. "Hello, Ms. Dottie. It's good to see you again."

She continued to rock slightly. Though it wasn't as bad as before, the rocking was her ability to cope with coming back to the bad place again.

"You've gotten a lot better. It's not every day you touch someone." Ms. Perkins leaned against the open window. "Would you like to go see the chickens again?"

"I guess." She opened the door and Ms. Perkins stepped back so that she could get out.

"Who's your friends, Ms. Dottie?" The nurse asked.

"That's Colby Lopez and he's Fergal Devitt. He's Irish." Dottie turned and watched Fergal come to stand with her. "They're supportive of me."

"It's always good to have friends."

"Sometimes." She replied.

"We've had some bumps along the way, but I'm trying to smooth them over with her." Fergal explained.

"As long as you are willing to stick with her, then you won't have a problem from me. Now, let's go for a walk. It's a nice day today."

Dottie walked ahead, and Fergal was there at her side, holding her hand. Though Dottie still looked a little stiff with Fergal being there, Cait knew it would disappear the longer they were there.

Ms. Perkins smiled. "She's doing and saying stuff she normally wouldn't."

"When I brought her on the road with me she didn't, not until Fergal became her friend. Unfortunately something happened recently where she's been afraid of him, and not because of something he did."

"What? Did one of those men touch her?"

"No. Fergal hurt his tailbone and his girlfriend showed Dottie some rather unflattering pics of his ass." Cait sighed. "Before that she had the largest crush on him."

"Oh no."

"Yeah, and finding out he was dating someone and he only liked Dottie as a friend hurt beyond belief for her. She still has a thing for him but seeing a different side about him scared her."

Ms. Perkins closed her eyes and tilted her head skyward. After that pause she sighed.

"But, she's slowly coming back from that place. She has another friend, Drew McIntyre is a wrestler, whose wife works with autistic children so he's become her protector and friend. He just couldn't come with us today." Cait said.

Cait felt Colby's hand on her back and she looked at him. He smiled, nodded but said nothing. He understood, he just knew.

They followed Dottie and Fergal up the front steps of the Asylum. Dottie couldn't rock so she twisted her right wrist at her side with a fist. Sometimes she would hit her hip but not hard enough to hurt herself. It was an action that Cait hadn't seen in a long time.

"Dottie?" Fergal turned to her.

"I don't want to go in. I'm scared." She said in that child like voice she was good at.

"You're not going to stay, we're just visiting." Fergal rubbed her arm. "Just hold my hand. You know you should never be afraid while I'm here."

Cait caught the smile on Ms. Perkins' face as she looked at the two of them. Colby was smiling as well.

"Just hold me hand." Fergal linked his fingers with hers.

Ms. Perkins let them inside the main hall of the Asylum. The sound was loud, people, a lot of them were there. Fergal was there to catch Dottie to keep her from turning and running away. Her hands were over her ears, her face pressed into his shoulder and his arms were around her.

"Shh, shh," Fergal said. "I got ya, Dottie, Lovely."

They stayed like that for a while.

"We've been working on her touching people." Cait explained when seeing Ms. Perkins' astounded look. "Fergal was the first person to touch her, to hug her."

"I've been getting hugs any chance I get." Colby added. "I'm trying to get her used to the sounds of the crowd, having her wait outside the curtain for my performances."

Seeing Fergal holding Dottie again, it warmed the center of Cait's chest. She couldn't help but smile when Dottie's hands lowered and saw her breathing was better.

"See, there. Take deep breaths." Fergal pushed some of her hair back as he looked down at her.

She took a few more deep breaths and stepped back from him. "I'll show you the sewing room." She grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and tugged on him.

"At your speed, Lovely."

Ms. Perkins tilted her head. "Are you sure he is just a friend?" She asked that as they followed behind Dottie and Fergal.

"Honestly, I don't know. I do think he cares for her a lot but I don't know if its a romantic one."

There was a room on the second floor, the second floor wasn't as loud as the first floor. This was where a lot of the classrooms were located. One room in particular was where Dottie got her skills with sewing.

"I learned to sew in this room." She stood outside the door, looking in. There weren't anyone in there at the time. "I guess it did me some good."

"Back when Dottie didn't talk, we had to figure out something that she could do. She had a natural gift with sewing." Ms. Perkins said. "We'd have to pry her away from her number fourteen station for meal times and sleep."

"I bet you could make anything if you tried." Fergal said.

"You try getting our mother's voice out of your head. You'll understand why she only just fixes tears and not make clothes." Cait grumbled.

"The housing has gotten a little better. A lot of those who were diagnosed as autisitic were moved to a facility that the State Government set up for them." Ms. Perkins said. "Your old room is less crowded."

The creme and blue colored walls permiated everywhere in the building. The colors were supposed to be calming, which for the most part they were. They passed a few nurses and oderlies, whom Dottie steered well away from, as they walked up to the third floor. The noise level was worse up there than on the second floor. This was where the patients stayed, where the housing was.

Dottie switched hands with Fergal. Instead of her left hand in his right, she held his right with her right and held onto his arm. She pressed one ear into his shoulder to keep the sounds of people and probably the memories at bay the further they walked along the main hall.

"I can see where Dottie has people problems." Colby said.

"It was a lot worse after the incident happened." Ms. Perkins said.

Fergal heard that, he looked back at the nurse. He didn't have to ask what happened, after Cait's blow up at his girlfriend he already knew what incident Ms. Perkins was talking about.

"They made rooms a lot better, no more stupid bunk beds like it was a camp or something. There are more staff for the patients now than it had been back then."

"How did you find out what happened with Dottie, if you don't mind me asking." Colby said.

"I walked in on it happening in a closet. He'd take patients there because nurses didn't deal with the closet." She said in a sombre tone.

Fergal pulled Dottie even closer to him, if that was possible. He said something to her and she nodded. Whatever it was made her look at him.

"She's got a great support team." Ms. Perkins said.

"Yeah, I know. We're going to be seeing our mom after this." Cait told the nurse.

"Good luck."

"Did she ever come to visit Dottie?" Colby asked.

"No, it was only me that did. With Dottie being older than me I had to ride a bus to get out here just to see her. Or I would ride my bike, when I was old enough to drive I would do it that way." Cait said.

"When did Dottie come here? You're talking about all the times she didn't talk..." Colby looked at Cait and Ms. Perkins.

"She was eighteen. I was about fifteen at the time. Mom claimed that she couldn't deal with Dottie anymore so she had her committed. She stopped talking around then, even if I came to visit."

"So we had to work extra hard." Ms. Perkins said.

"And it was just this year that she got out?"

"Yes, unfortunately. She didn't talk for like twelve years." Cait said. "Until Fergal got her to talk."

And she was back in the place where she had reverted to a child in an adult body. But looking at her sister as she stood with Fergal, whose arm was securely around her, she was different. She was talking, something her mother had claimed would never happen. Dottie was touching people, another thing that Cait herself hadn't been able to do. But now she was doing all the things a lot of people, their mother included, claimed she wouldn't do.

Eventually, Cait knew, that facing their mother was the most important task of the day.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

The four of them had left the Facility after Dottie had gotten to see the chickens out in the main grounds area. She was able to feed them, engrossed was the word that Cait could describe it. They left soon after.

On the ride out, Dottie was again quiet. She needed time to decompress. Fergal was sitting with his hand on her knee as she stared out the window.

Colby's hand reached across the center console and grabbed her hand again. When Cait looked at him he smiled but he was still driving.

They headed back to Buffalo city limits but they came at it from a different angle, heading towards an upper middle class neighborhood that had a lot of nice houses and nicer lawns.

Everything hadn't changed, not in the time since Cait had been back in the area. The Facility had been Dottie's home for a long time, since she was in her late teens. She'd gone to the same high school Cait did, which was still up and running it seemed from the looks of baseball game going on at the time when they passed it.

"Here, this house." Cait instructed Colby.

They pulled up into the driveway of an old house with brown siding and white trim. There was a large oak tree in the front yard and their mother kept a lush gardenscape to show off an elegance she herself didn't possess.

"I don't want to see mom." Dottie finally spoke up.

"We won't be long, Dottie. I just want the guys to meet her, to understand where we come from. And then we can head out and leave the city all together." Cait said as she unbuckled herself.

Fergal unbuckled Dottie's seatbelt when she made no move to get out. As Cait and Colby got out, so did Fergal. He walked around to Dottie's side of the car and opened the door for her. When he held his hand out, she took it and he helped her out.

"I'm right here for ya, Dottie." Fergal said.

"Caitlin, is that you?" A woman walked out the front door of the nice landscaped house.

That was their mother, Marg O'Connor. She wore pretty clothes, like she had always done. She had blond hair instead of the red that both Cait and Dottie sported, which came from their father, wherever he was.

"Yes, Mom it's me." Cait sighed. "I brought Dottie for a visit like you wanted."

Marg's eyes fell onto Dottie's hand in Fergal's grasp. Cait knew the look, she could read her mother's facial expressions after nearly thirty years. Marg kept looking from Dottie's hand to Fergal and then back again.

Touching Dottie was never something Dottie allowed their mother. Touching was something that just recently happened, especially in regards to Fergal and even more recently with Colby. Colby it seemed like stepped up as an anchor when their mother walked down the steps towards them.

"Dorothy, you should wear your hair down." Not the traditional hello from a mother, as cold as she was to the sister but at least she acknowledged Dottie at all.

"She's fine." Fergal said.

"Another Irishman, great." Marg rolled her eyes. "Better not turn out like my ex did. Left as soon as Caitlin could walk and the reason why Dorothy stopped talking."

Marg O'Connor had no filter. No 'how are you, would you like something to drink?' She didn't ask the men their names, didn't ask if the drive was okay. Nothing like that.

Cait may not have known her father like Dottie did, but there was that nagging suspicion that he left not because of Dottie but because of their mother.

Inside their childhood home, it was as immaculate as the front yard, with its own garden growing in there. Dottie ended up staring at a particular plant as she usually did when she was back home.

"So, you finally decided to show up. You didn't tell me you were going to be bringing some men with you. Is there a reason for that?"

"What do you mean, mother?" Caitlin asked, smiling at the red in her mother's face when she said that name.

"That Dorothy," her eyes slid over to Fergal and Dottie again. "She's changed. You had a hand in that, didn't you?"

"I brought her on the road, the rest was up to Dottie."

"But she can't, I mean, she doesn't…"

"We've gone out on a date." Fergal said, which earned three pairs of eyes on him. "A dinner date, it wasn't the best but I did get her to do something she wasn't used to. Right, Lovely?" He rubbed her back.

"Yeah, I guess." She spoke barely above a whisper.

"Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening." Marg ran her fingers through her blonde hair. "The doctors all said she wouldn't…"

"Yeah, well, I hate to break it to you, Mom, but she can." Cait said.

Marg looked at her. "But the doctors said...I mean she was difficult to begin with."

"That was then and this is now, Mom. She's got friends. Fergal Devitt, Colby Lopez, a swell Scotsman whose wife actually works with autistic children so he's familiar with that. She's got me. The staff know her enough to not bother her. She's even getting full paychecks for everything that she has done." Cait said.

"But she can't. Caitlin, look at her. She's not going to ever be normal. Sure she can mend clothes but she not going to live a normal life, she's not going to be like you, not get married, have a family. She won't…"

Dottie turned from staring at the plant to looking at her mother. "Can we go now, Cait? I don't want to be here anymore."

Those two sentences had their mother speechless. A quick glance at Colby, who'd been planted next to the front door, proved that he was impressed.

"Yeah, we should get going. We have to be two cities over by Thursday and it's a long drive for us." Fergal said, his arm coming up around Dottie's waist. She stepped further into his embrace.

Colby held to door open for them to leave. As they were getting out to the car they heard Marg.

"Don't trust any foreigners, Dorothy. They'll just be like your father."

Colby stood at the drivers door. "Well, if we're anything like him, we don't want to be anywhere near you!"

Cait laughed loud as she and Dottie got into the car. Fergal was smiling, though he'd been a good sport about it all. As they pulled away from the house, Cait looked in the backseat to see Dottie rocking in her seat again.

"I told you we wouldn't be there for long, Dot." Cait said.

"So that was your mom, huh?" Colby asked.

"Yeah, unfortunately." Cait said as she ran a hand through her hair.

"I'm hungry. Can we stop for food, please? Where can we go, Fergal?" Dottie asked.

"Colby's driving. Driver gets to pick." Fergal responded.

"I don't know. We're not going to a sushi place, that's for damn sure." Colby said as he turned off to the street that would lead back to the main thoroughfare.

"Denny's seems to be close by." Cait said after looking at her phone.

Dottie made a sound.

"Don't be like that, Dottie." Fergal said. "Your sister is going to be there. Nothing is going to happen." Fergal said.

Cait saw his hand go over and take Dottie's hand in his. Cait felt Colby do the same thing with hers.

Maybe this was going to go better than before.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

They stopped at a nearby Denny's. Colby held the door open for them and then followed them in. Fergal had his hand on Dottie's lower back as they waited to be seated.

"Four today?" The hostess asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Cait said.

Colby's hand mimicked what Fergal was doing with Dottie, his firmly planted on her lower back as they were escorted to a booth at the back of the restaurant.

"Your waiter will be here in a minute. Take your time." The woman smiled.

Dottie, still quiet from the visit with their mother, sat on one side of the booth with Fergal while Cait and Colby occupied the other side. Fergal spread out a menu for him and Dottie to share, his arm around her shoulders. Colby did the same with Cait.

"We need to make this a good day." Colby said. "I want to see Dottie smile again."

"I agree." Fergal said.

"We have to get to the house shows." Dottie said as her finger tapped on a picture. "This one."

"Anything you want, Lovely."

"Maybe you shouldn't call her something like that, Ferg." Cait said. "Is it confusing you, Dottie, when he calls you that?"

"Sometimes I don't know if it's a nickname for a friend or not." She responded, not looking at Fergal. "But I like it. I hear Joe Anoa'i call his wife honey, Baby and stuff, but that's just normal. I'm not normal."

"No. You're not normal. But that's what I like about ya, Dottie." Fergal said. "We may be going through some issues right now but it doesn't mean I don't care about you."

"But we're still friends, right? Just friends?"

"Yeah, we are." He nodded, though he didn't have as much emotion behind it as Cait would have thought.

Was he going through personal issues of his own? Wasn't he still with that Cathy chick?

"I didn't like going back to the facility but it was different from when I was there." Dottie said in an attempt to change the subject. "I liked Ms. Perkins being there."

"Did you go to school before then?" Fergal asked.

"Yeah, I did. But I was not good with it."

"She was great at anything to do with animals, insects or stuff like that. She hated math." Cait said. "I don't blame her, I was better at designing clothing than doing schoolwork."

"What about Mitchell?" Her sister asked.

"Who's Mitchell?" Colby asked.

"Cait's boyfriend who came over a lot before I was sent away. He had a car and he'd take us places, like the park or the zoo. He liked the zoo."

Cait sighed, pushed her menu away.

"He was my first friend before I went mute." Dottie said. "He was funny, and caring. He went out of his way to help me when I was confused."

The heated tears gathered at the edge of Cait's eye.

"Oh no, I did it again. Cait, I'm sorry." Dottie moved her hand across the table and grabbed Cait's hand. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry."

Cait smiled. "No, it's okay. Fergal may have been the first to get you out of that dark place, but Mitchell was the one that kept both of us sane when Mom was being a bitch." She wiped at her eye. "He died in a driving accident, well, road rage. Someone rammed him off the side of the road and Mom barely cared. Dottie was able to come to his funeral even if she was in that Facility."

"I liked Mitchell. He was on the football team, he was my first friend and he'd watch out of me when I needed it. Kind of like Fergal and Colby," Dottie looked at Fergal. "He was good looking, too."

"Oh?" Fergal asked.

"Blondish hair, kind of tall like Dean Ambrose." Cait said. "He was a good guy with a good heart even if he was built like Roman Reigns."

Fergal laughed. "At least he was a good guy."

Dottie looked at Fergal. "I'm sorry for the stuff I said. I was confused. I don't really hate you. I was mad." She said all of that in a single rushed breath.

"I know, Dottie. I know. You don't have to explain it. I can't begin to understand the stuff that you go through on a daily basis, but I have a feeling that you'll get passed it and we'll work on it together. I still care for you, Dottie."

His thumb rubbed her shoulder, at which Cait felt a hand on her thigh. Colby smiled at her when she looked at him and nodded.

Their waiter came by to take their orders. Dottie had the same thing she was used to, chicken fingers and ranch dressing with onion rings. Fergal got the largest burger that they offered. Colby and Cait decided to share a slider sampler plate.

While they ate, Fergal seemed to wear his food more than eat it. Colby squeezed Cait's thigh to get her attention and when she looked up from her phone she saw Dottie wiping ketchup from the side of Fergal's mouth. Hiding that smile was the hardest thing to do but Fergal laughed it off. Dottie smiled again, at Fergal no less.

Whether they were still "Just Friends" or something more at that point, Cait didn't know. For as far as she was concerned Fergal was still dating that Cathy woman.

"Hey, Ferg, mind hanging out with Dottie this Thursday before the House Show?" Colby asked.

"I don't mind." The Irishman said.

"Cait, would you like to go out to breakfast with me?" Colby asked. "In a date?"

Dottie looked at Cait, her eyes wide and her mouth open. Fergal bumped her shoulder to get her attention and when she looked at him he smiled.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Cait answered.

Dottie on the other hand looked down at her plate of food. She was an open book, she was disappointed. Cait knew it was because Dottie saw her as a normal person and could do normal things. Dottie always felt different and often found herself in that dark part of her mind.

"Then I guess I'll have to do something special with Dottie." Fergal said. "I think there is a zoo there."

"A zoo?" Dottie looked at him.

"What, you've never been to a zoo?"

"No, I have. But...not without Cait."

"So you'll get to go with me instead. Unless you wouldn't mind Drew tagging along."

"The national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn." Dottie said offhandedly. "But, okay. I can text him and see if he wants to go. Okay? You're fine with that?"

"I wouldn't have asked if you were unsure, Lovely."

She smiled. Cait couldn't keep the smile off any longer.

* * *

They had left soon after eating their meals. After getting a fill up on gas and heading back to pick up Cait's and Dottie's things, they were on the road heading towards the house show venues.

Cait looked in the backseat and hummed. Fergal's face was basically buried in the top of Dottie's head as she leaned against his shoulder in sleep. She had one hand resting on his thigh and one of his was on hers as well.

Colby's hand snuck over and rested on her knee.

"You know I care for you and your sister, right?" Colby asked.

"It's not hard to see that." She looked over at him. "How did you find out that I had a thing for you?"

"Fergal."

"Figures." She huffed. "When she had that freak out on him?"

"Yeah, he talked to me about it. It almost sounded like he broke up with a girlfriend when that happened." Colby shook his head.

"So, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to go out on a few dates and see where all of this leads us." He said as he merged over into the carpool lane.

"And Dottie?"

"She'll be fine. She's got Ferg and Drew, and with Jon Good coming back just before SummerSlam she'll get to meet him."

"I was not around when he got his injury. Is he as good as his last name implies?"

"Jon can be a big potty mouth, he has no filter sometimes. But, he's been up to date on you and Dottie from Renee."

Renee Young was a nice woman. She'd stop by to ask for some mendings a few times. Renee being Dean Ambrose's wife was traveling with Joe Anoa'i and Colby sometimes. Ever since the Shield days those three men had been almost inseparable and from what Cait could see of Jon Good, he had a sense of humor that was cut and dry.

Maybe it wouldn't be all that bad.

Cait fell into an easy sleep, holding Colby's hand as she rested her head back. When she opened her eyes again they were in the next city and the two in the backseat were just waking up. Fergal stretched his hands over his head, Dottie yawned and Cait caught Colby doing the same thing.

"You need to let someone else drive, big guy." Cait said as they pulled into the hotel they would be staying at.

"Yeah, maybe I will." He arched his back and then yawned harder.

As they were getting out of the car, with the sun setting, there was a few of the house show performers showing up.

"Little Red." Cait rolled her eyes at the nickname Ziggler seemed to throw out there. "There you are. Come on, you own me a dinner."

"I," Dottie took a deep breath. "I, uh," it was the suddenness of the man being there that had thrown her for a loop.

"Come on, Dorothy, can't you give me some of your time." He reached out and grabbed her hand. "There's a great place nearby. I'm sure your sister will get your things."

"I don't know. I just got in."

"Just change it up a little. Live a little, Little Red."

Fergal's face had taken on as much red as Cait's hair as Nick practically pulled her away from the car.

"You better let her go." Cait walked around to the side where they were at. "I swear, I will nail you in the nuts if you pull shit like that again."

"Dot," Drew stepped in. "How about in ten minutes I'll come get you for supper. The hotel has a cafe in it."

"Ten minutes?" She asked.

"Yes. Or just meet me in the lobby when you're done. Don't rush, take your time."

"Okay." She smiled at him. "Can Fergal come along if he wants to?"

"Actually I have some things to take care of. But we're all set for the Zoo trip tomorrow, right?" Fergal asked, glancing at the Scotsman.

"Sure am. Kaitlin, my wife, wants to see pictures of us together for once, Dottie."

Fergal walked back to the car and grabbed Dottie's luggage for her. Colby was getting Cait's out without her asking him to. Not that she cared, she was focused on a conceited looking Ziggler.

He'd let his blonde hair fall to his shoulders as his eyes took in her sister. What was his issue? Was this his way of getting back at her, Cait, for something by screwing with her sister? She felt her face hardened as Nick leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of Dottie head, which she didn't pull away from. She did wipe at her temple, so maybe that was good.

"I'll take care of her, Cait. You should go an enjoy some time to yourself." Drew said.

Colby draped his arm around her. "Everything going to be fine, Cait. You'll see."

Just hearing that affirmation from Colby eased Cait as she followed her sister into the hotel.

* * *

 **I wanted to get this out to you guys, finish up this chapter of my Dottie series. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll be back when I can get something down for the next installment. I'm liking where this series is going, so I hope you guys do too.**


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